Ford’s Staggering 19.5 Million Vehicle Recalls

Ford (NYSE: F) CEO Jim Farley has been on a press binge, talking, alternatively, about China’s car joint ventures and the importance of the US government keeping China’s EVs out of America. Left out of the conversation is that Ford recalled 19.5 vehicles from April 2025 to March 2026. That is more than all other car companies that sell vehicles in the US combined. It is a staggering number.

iSeeCars did the math. It reviewed vehicle safety recall campaigns as of April 2, 2026, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for cars from model years 2017-2025. The research reported, “This company-wide trend is reflected in high lifetime recall projections for vehicles from Ford and its luxury brand, Lincoln.”

In an “expected 30-year lifetime recall” analysis, Ford had 10 of the top 25 by the same measure. And, the trend is bound to affect Ford’s sales. “Car owners universally dread recall notices and the process of addressing them,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer.

Ford’s recalls have cost it hundreds of millions of dollars, undermining earnings. Ford took a $600 million charge last year for a fuel injector recall. In February, Farely said, “This is costing the company billions of dollars and ticking off a lot of customers.”

The magnitude of the recall issue is colossal. At 19.5 vehicles recalled, it dwarfed second-place Toyota (NYSE: TM | TM Price Prediction), which had 4.2 million.

Farley says the greatest threat to the company is if the federal government lets Chinese cars into the US. At the same time, he expressed hope that Chinese joint ventures would help his company advance in the EV sector. However, Farley told Fox News on Monday: “We should keep them out of our country.”

Farley is worried about the effect of an open door for Chinese EVs in the US. They are less expensive, better-made, and offer more features than the EVs from legacy car companies. However, the cost advantage stems from the Chinese government’s underwriting of much of its success. One has to go back to 2009 when the federal government last saved the US car companies financially.

Farley may lobby Washington to successfully keep China’s EVs out of the US for now. However, his greatest single challenge for the time being is the poor quality of Ford’s cars.